Sequel to: The Eternal Kiss

Six days of near inactivity did little to calm the nervous workings of the southerners mind. It didn't matter that his body was healing, he couldn't still the frantic working of a mind that was filled with disjointed images and incomplete thoughts. He stood at the open door that led to Vin's balcony a coffee in hand watching the suburb around him. Today was the first day that his well meaning friends had actually left him alone with his thoughts. Not that he hadn't appreciated the distraction from the vagaries of his mind, but a little solitude was always what calmed his soul most easily.

His view of his own life had changed dramatically in the few short weeks since the poker night that had irrevocably altered his course through the lonely waters that were his life. Before he could depend on one thing, no matter what happened he had himself to rely on. Now he had the other half of his soul to rely on. Vin was the Yin to his own Yang. Regardless of anything else in their lives he knew now that they belonged together.

Vin had been nothing but an attentive and caring gentleman in the time since his accident. His mouth curled into a smile, his body coming alive with the thoughts that coursed through his mind. Their nights, once they were alone had been filled with long slow wet kisses that dissolved any fear of rejection from Ezra's mind. Melding their souls and their hearts with the intensity of the passion they shared, but aside from the one shower that they had shared their encounters had been strictly to high school rules. No matter how much their bodies begged for release Vin would not allow their encounters to go any further than heated kisses.

Not that Vin's kisses weren't better than the best sex he had ever had. His eyes glazed with the memories that he waded through.. Vin had a way of reaching into your soul with just the barest touch of his tongue on your lips. The way his lips cherished the very taste of you. He had a way of just with his kiss making the world around you melt into nothingness until just the two of you existed. Your whole world contracting until your universe was centred wholly on the sensations that his lips and tongue were creating.

Turning back into the living room, he was stunned to see the object of his daydreams leaning against the bedroom door, watching him closely his eyes hooded with the same passion that he knew was reflected in his eyes.

"Hi," he murmured softly, his magnificent vocabulary reduced to that single word as the sight of his lover stole all coherent thought from his head.

"Hi yourself," Vin spoke walking slowly forward not stopping until they were standing toe to toe "You feeling okay?" he murmured, lifting the coffee cup from Ezra's hands and placing it on the coffee table behind them.

"I am now," Ezra almost moaned as Vin's gentle hands traced across his tee shirt covering the fading bruises on Ezra's torso.

"Miss me?" Vin spoke as he leaned forward and pressed their lips together.

"More than I imagined possible," Ezra whispered as Vin's tongue traced his lips. Vin's straight white teeth nibbled gently at his lower lip forcing a moan to bubble from Ezra's throat.

"We miss you at work," Vin spoke as he traced tiny kisses all over his lovers face

"I'm coming back tomorrow," Ezra murmured tilting his head to give Vin's teasing lips the access they needed to his neck. His own fingers lacing tenderly through Vin's long silky hair, his fingertips caressing Vin's scalp.

"I need to take you for a drive," Vin spoke calmly "You think you're up to it?"

"Where to?" Ezra asked, more than willing to follow Vin to the gates of hell, if only he never stopped kissing him.

"I know how much it worries you that you can't remember the accident, I want you to see the Jag," he shrugged his shoulders slowly "Maybe the car will jog your memory"

Ezra pulled back slightly, a little distressed by the fact that he would see his beloved Jag in such a state. He knew, however, that Vin in his own caring way was trying to get him back the memories that he had lost.

Swallowing tightly Ezra looked deeply into Vin's eyes. "When do we go?" he nodded

"Anytime you are ready," Vin spoke placing a soft caring kiss on his forehead "Now if you like"

"I'm not dressed for an excursion." He looked down at the worn torn jeans he was wearing and the faded black Bon Jovi Tee shirt.

"I like seeing you in my clothes Ez," Vin murmured "Or out of them." His blue eyes twinkled with mirth as he watched the renewed flare of desire in Ezra's eyes. "Sooner we go the sooner we can come home to bed," he cajoled

"Well then no time like the present," Ezra spoke lifting his head and looking determinedly into Vin's face

"You don't have to do this Ezra," Vin stated calmly seeing the slight panic in the green depths

"Yes I do," Ezra nodded "I need to know what happened." He paused to gather his thoughts then continued "I know its only a short period of time but I have this huge hole in my memory, I don't know how amnesiacs cope because just the loss of a few hours is incredibly upsetting to me"

Vin stepped forward and ran his fingers across Ezra's head, stopping when he cupped Ezra's neck and pulled him closer to him to place a quick hard kiss on his lips.

"C'mon." He pulled reluctantly away from his lover and extended a hand to him "Lets get this over with and see if it helps"

Ezra remained in place and pulled on Vin's hand "you know what happened don't you?" he asked quickly

Vin turned towards him and looked him straight in the eye nodding slowly.

"Why haven't you told me?" Ezra frowned dropping Vin's hand

"Because I know what happened, I don't know why it happened and I don't want to put images in your head that may not be the correct one"

"Any image would be better than the ones that are there presently," Ezra sighed understanding his lover's reasons

"C'mon," Vin spoke grabbing Ezra by the hand and leading him out of the apartment.

A short ride in Vin's jeep later found them at the holding yard of one of the cities most reputable panel beaters. Extracting a key from his pocket he quickly opened the padlock and turned back to Ezra

"Want me to come with you or do you want to do this alone," he asked softly

"I can do this," he murmured stepping forward to place a soft kiss on Vin's lips before he brushed past him and into the enclosure.

His quick green gaze scoured the cars in the enclosure, searching for his pride and joy. Walking slowly he turned around the corner of the huge warehouse style building and the site that met his eyes nearly took his breath away. His precious jag sat on the pavement in front of him. The passenger side of the car was barely marked, however, as he walked slowly around the

car he saw the extent of the damage and couldn't help but wonder how his own body had managed to escape relatively unscathed.

A long angry scar traversed the back panel of the door, whatever had hit him had gouged a deep wound into the heavy panelling, scraping the paint from the car down to bare silver metal. The real damage however seemed to have hit squarely between the front and back seats, the framework of the car buckled deeply. Stepping closer to the car Ezra ran suddenly chilled fingers over the twisted metal. Unconsciously knowing that some of the marks had been made by the equipment that had cut him from the wreckage of his most loved possession didn't help his distress. Reaching inside the cabin space of the Jag he ran his fingers over the brown-crusted stains on the plush leather seat. Stains that he knew were his own blood.

"I should never have brought you here Ez," Vin spoke near silently from behind him.

Ezra turned to look at Vin his skin pale, his face unable to hide his distress "To the contrary Mr Tanner I needed to see this." He looked at the worried expression on the face of the man who lounged casually against the fence behind him. "Can you tell me what caused this heinous damage to my precious vehicle?" he asked

"That one was a truck." He pointed to the back of the Jag "And that one was a large tree," he spoke softly

Ezra turned back to the car, his eyes almost transfixed to the object that could have become his coffin.

"Ezra," Vin murmured "Ezra," he stated a little louder, pushing off the fence to move to stand behind the smaller man, his hands hovering at his sides unsure how to console the man whose torment was breaking his heart. Getting no response from the badly shaken southerner, he reached out to put his hands on Ezra's gooseflesh covered arms.

"I could have died," Ezra murmured weakly as he sank back against Vin's warm body. Vin folded his arms around the man who held his heart in his hands and tried to give him some of his own warmth. He wasn't sure what he had expected when he brought Ezra here, but this wasn't it. He had hoped that looking at the Jag would bring the memories back and solve the silent nightmares that he knew plagued his new lover. Vin wasn't even sure that Ezra was aware of the nightmares. Ever since Ezra had begun refusing painkillers, deep into the night Vin would be woken by Ezra trembling and whimpering in his arms. Each night he would do his best to comfort Ezra who never woke from his dreams, but slowly settled back into troubled slumber. Then redoubling his own efforts to help him to regain his memory by day, he had held so many hopes for this to be the end of his memory loss, but apparently his hopes were in vain.

"You could have died Ez," he murmured against Ezra's temple "But you didn't."

"Why can't I remember it," he murmured relaxing into Vin's warmth

"Probably because it could have killed you," Vin spoke, he reached up one hand to rub gently across his forehead "your mind doesn't want to remember it."

"Can we go home?" Ezra murmured, his eyes still fixed on the car

"Sure," Vin nodded and forcibly turned Ezra away from the car and walked him back towards his jeep. Ezra stood placidly while he padlocked the gate again and then followed meekly as he walked to the jeep and opened the passenger door. Vin watched his lover climb into the car sadly, instead of restoring his memories as he had hoped it looked like he had set his recovery back. The site of the wreckage of his Jag had shown him just how serious his accident had been and given him a glimpse of his own mortality. That wasn't something that Vin had considered.

The ride back to Vin's apartment seemed to take an interminable length of time. Vin couldn't find the words to use to snap the once cocky southerner out of the sombre depression he had fallen into. Vin moved to reach out to him and placed a warm hand on his thigh, his thumb tracing the skin revealed by the tear in the denim mid thigh. If he had ever realised how sexy the torn jeans he was accustomed to wearing looked, he would have stopped wearing them. This week had been pure torture for him, watching Ezra wandering around his apartment dressed only in his well worn torn jeans, his every movement revealing tantalising glimpses of flesh he had sworn not to touch until Ezra was feeling himself again. But the unconsciously sensual display that the undercover agent was giving him every day was wearing on his own self control.

Stopping in his parking space he turned to look at his lover, his thumb tracing the dark shadows under Ezra's eyes.

"You're alive Ez," he spoke softly "You're too stubborn to let a car accident get you," he smiled at the forlorn expression that met his gaze "Besides I'd have to kick your ass if you even thought about leaving me alone"

"Thank you," Ezra smiled and leaned over and kissed him gently, his tongue dipping tentatively into Vin's mouth tracing his teeth and dancing erotically with his tongue.

"Time for you to get some rest I think," Vin spoke gently resting his forehead against Ezra's as he caught his breath. Handing Ezra his keys he urged him to go ahead of him and watched as he climbed passively from the jeep and wandered up the stairs. Hearing his apartment door open he took a deep breath and knew that as soon as got his body back under control he should follow his lover home.